Iran rejects Russian uranium enrichment offer
The rejection of a plan to conduct uranium enrichment on Russian territory drew a harsh rebuke from a senior politician in Moscow who said the move destroyed the only chance for a compromise.
The announcement come as the permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - are preparing to meet this week to discuss a draft statement aimed at increasing the pressure on Iran to resolve questions about its nuclear activities amid heightened fears they are aimed at developing atomic weapons.
Moscow has sought to persuade Iran to move its enrichment programme to Russian territory, which would allow closer international monitoring. Iran said previously that basic agreement had been reached on the plan but details were never worked out.
“The Russian proposal is not on our agenda anymore,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. “Circumstances have changed. We have to wait and see how things go with the five veto-holding countries [on the council].”
The five Security Council powers have been considering how to deal with the standoff and gain more compliance with Tehran, including demands that it abandon uranium enrichment.
In Moscow, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of international affairs committee of the lower house of parliament, said Iran’s decision meant the end of chances for a compromise on the issue. He warned Tehran that its refusal to continue talks on the Russian offer could “radicalise” the Security Council’s debate.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran had no intention to use oil as a weapon in its confrontation with the West over its nuclear programme, contradicting a statement a day earlier by Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to continue to provide Asia with the oil it needs as a reliable and effective source of energy and will not use oil as a foreign policy instrument,” Mr Mottaki said.
Iran is the No 2 producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. It also has partial control of the narrow Straits of Hormuz, a key route for most of the crude oil shipped from the Persian Gulf nations to world markets.
The US and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it only aims to produce energy.
Iran has warned it will begin large-scale uranium enrichment if the IAEA formally referred it the Security Council. Last week, it offered a “final proposal” to agree to suspend large-scale enrichment temporarily in return for IAEA recognition of its right to continue research-scale enrichment.
